Processing securities-related information

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the invention provide techniques for improving clarity of disclosure materials provided to investors, by enabling securities issuers, intermediaries and/or other entities to create and disseminate clear and concise summary-level information on individual securities to investors to enable informed investment decisions. The information may include a summary version of the full statutory prospectus (a “summary prospectus”). A summary prospectus may include a concise, “plain English” synopsis and/or representation of certain information contained in the full statutory prospectus, such as a security&#39;s investment objectives and strategies, costs, risks and/or other information.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/508,987, filed Jul. 24, 2009, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/135,834, filed Apr. 30, 2002, theentirety of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

This invention relates to processing information relating to securities,such as compliance information relating to a mutual fund or othernon-corporate security.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Government agencies and securities exchanges require that certaininformation on a security be made available to an investor before thesecurity may be sold to the investor, and that certain information bedelivered to the investor with the confirmation of any transaction. Thedelivery of this information has historically taken place either inperson, or via document delivery services, such as the U.S. Mail,Federal Express, or United Parcel Service. Recently, government agenciesand securities exchanges have begun allowing securities issuers andintermediaries to comply with information delivery requirements byapproving the delivery of the information in an electronic format, forexample, by transmitting the information from one computer to anotherover a computer network.

Securities information is available in various electronic databases,including the United States Securities and Exchange Commission's(“SEC's”) EDGAR database. EDGAR, the Electronic Data Gathering,Analysis, and Retrieval system, performs automated collection,validation, indexing, acceptance, and forwarding of submissions bycompanies and others that are required by law to file information withthe SEC. The primary purpose of EDGAR is to increase the efficiency andfairness of the securities market for the benefit of investors,corporations, and the economy by accelerating the receipt, acceptance,dissemination, and analysis of time-sensitive corporate informationfiled with the agency. EDGAR information is available on the Internet atwww.sec.gov.

Although securities information is available from databases like EDGAR,the information is not provided in a useful electronic format thatenables compliance with government and securities exchange regulations,especially with regard to mutual funds and other non-corporatesecurities. EDGAR, as a result of its design, makes informationregarding non-corporate securities difficult to find. In EDGAR, mutualfund information, for example, is listed as a submission of thecorporate issuer, not the fund name that is marketed to the consumer,and one submission may include information for more than one mutualfund. EDGAR submissions also may include updates and amendments toearlier submitted information. It is quite possible for a single mutualfund to have more than fifty amendments to its compliance information.An investor attempting to locate the complete set of complianceinformation for a mutual fund directly from EDGAR would need to retrieveall applicable amendments. This is time consuming, and it is difficultfor the investor, when attempting to gather compliance information fromEDGAR, to now if all the amendments have actually been located, if theretrieved information about the fund is complete, or if the retrievedinformation is up-to-date.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Some embodiments of the invention provide a computer-implemented methodof processing a body of data representing a prospectus issued for atleast one mutual fund. The method comprises: (A) locating, within thebody of data, one or more data elements each having at least oneattribute within a predefined set of attributes; (B) inserting one ormore markers into the body of data to indicate the presence of the dataelement(s) located in (A); (C) using the marker(s) inserted in (B),generating a representation of the prospectus; and (D) making therepresentation of the prospectus available for a recipient to access.

Other embodiments of the invention provide a computer-implemented methodof providing information relating to at least one mutual fund to a user.The method comprises: (A) processing data representing a statutoryprospectus issued for the at least one mutual fund to retrieve one ormore data elements, each satisfying predefined attributes, from thedata, the data representing the statutory prospectus including detailedinformation corresponding to each of the one or more data elements; (B)generating a summary prospectus comprising the one or more dataelements; and (C) making the summary prospectus available to the user ina form that enables access to the detailed information corresponding toeach of the one or more data elements.

Still other embodiments of the invention provide a computer-implementedmethod of providing information relating to at least one mutual fund.The method comprises: (A) making available to a user a representation ofa statutory prospectus for the at least one mutual fund, the statutoryprospectus comprising detailed information for the at least one mutualfund, the representation of the statutory prospectus comprising one ormore data elements found within the statutory prospectus, each of theone or more data elements corresponding to a portion of the detailedinformation, the representation of the statutory prospectus being madeavailable to the user in a form which enables the user access to thedetailed information corresponding to each of the one or more dataelements.

Still other embodiments of the present invention provide acomputer-implemented method of processing data representing a statutoryprospectus for at least one mutual fund and a summary prospectuscorresponding to the statutory prospectus. The method comprises: (A)identifying, within the data representing the summary prospectus, one ormore data elements, each having at least one attribute within apredefined set of attributes; (B) locating, within the data representingthe statutory prospectus, one or more portions comprising detailedinformation, each portion comprising detailed information whichcorresponds to one of the one or more data elements; (C) inserting,within the data representing the summary prospectus, at least onereference for each data element located in (A), wherein each referencefor a data element is to a portion corresponding to the data elementlocated in (B); and (D) enabling a user to employ a reference insertedin (C) to access a portion of the data located in (B) corresponding to adata element.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the sameparts throughout the different views. Also, the drawings are notnecessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed uponillustrating the principles of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a representation of an example hard copy summary prospectus,in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a representation of an example online version of a summaryprospectus, in accordance with some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example method for processing complianceinformation, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example system for processinginformation, in accordance with some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an example system for storing andretrieving information, in accordance with some embodiments of theinvention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an example information obtainment andstorage system, in accordance with some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an example method for responding to requestsfor information, in accordance with some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a representation of an example interface displaying retrievedinformation, in accordance with some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example method for retrieving information,in accordance with some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 10 is a representation of an example interface displaying retrievedinformation, in accordance with some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart depicting an example method for identifying anitem of information for cataloging, in accordance with some embodimentsof me invention;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart depicting an example method for identifyingand/or assigning an effective date for an item of information, inaccordance with some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart depicting an example method for assessing thequality of an item of processed information, in accordance with someembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of an example system for storing andretrieving items of compliance information, in accordance with someembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of an example compliance information server,in accordance with some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of an example method for responding to requestsfor compliance information, in accordance with some embodiments of theinvention;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of an example method for identifying and locatinga data element, in accordance with some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 18 is a block diagram depicting an example system for identifyingand locating a data element within source information, according to someembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 19 is a representation of example tagged data, in accordance withsome embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 20 is a representation of example tagged data, in accordance withsome embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 21 is a representation of example tagged data, in accordance withsome embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 22 is a flowchart of an example method for retrieving and employingan anchor to retrieve source information, in accordance with someembodiments of the invention;

FIGS. 23A-23D are block diagrams collectively depicting a system formanaging information related to publicly traded securities;

FIG. 24 is a flowchart of an example print run process, in accordancewith embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 25 is a block diagram depicting an example technique foridentifying client accounts, holdings and documents for inclusion in aprint run, in accordance with some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 26 is a representation of an example data record for inclusion inone or amore printed compliance documents in a print run, in accordancewith some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 27 is a block diagram depicting an example computer which may beemployed to implement aspects of embodiments of the invention; and

FIG. 28 is a block diagram depicting an example storage medium on whichmay be stored instructions and data which may be employed to implementaspects of embodiments of the invention.

DESCRIPTION I. Overview

Various embodiments of the invention provide capabilities designed toimprove the clarity of disclosure materials provided by securitiesissuers to investors, by enabling securities issuers and/orintermediaries (e.g., broker/dealers, other distributors, etc.) tocreate and disseminate clear, concise summary-level information onindividual securities to investors and potential investors (hereinaftercollectively referred to as “investors” for simplicity and convenience),so as to enable investors to make informed investment decisions.

This information may include, for example, a summary version of the fullstatutory prospectus which all securities issuers are required toprovide to investors. This summary version is referred to herein as a“summary prospectus.” In some embodiments, a summary prospectus mayinclude a concise, “plain English” synopsis and/or representation ofcertain information contained in the full statutory prospectus (to whichthe summary prospectus may, in some embodiments, be a counterpart), suchas a security's investment objectives and strategies, costs, and risks,etc. Information in the summary prospectus may be presented in astandardized sequence (e.g., defined by the Securities and ExchangeCommission), with certain key information being presented in individualsections. In addition to a concise synopsis and/or representation of keyinformation, the summary prospectus may indicate to the investor wheremore detailed information on each topic addressed in the summaryprospectus may be found, such as via references to locations in the fullstatutory prospectus and/or other documents, so that it facilitates a“layered disclosure” of information about the security, with informationin the summary prospectus forming a first layer and information inunderlying detailed documents forming further layers.

In some embodiments, a summary prospectus may be disseminated at leastin part via the Internet (e.g., via, email, presented on a web page,etc) to facilitate the layered disclosure of information on one or moresecurities to investors. For example, a hard copy summary prospectusdelivered to an investor may include a reference (e.g., a UniformResource Locator, or URL) to a web page presenting an online version ofthe summary prospectus which largely replicates the standardized orderin which information is presented by the hard copy summary prospectus.Each section of the online version of the summary prospectus may includeone or more links to more detailed information on the summary-levelinformation on a given topic presented in the section. For example, eachlink may reference a location within an electronic version of the fullstatutory prospectus or another document. As such, the investor mayreadily navigate between sections of the summary prospectus and moredetailed information provided within one or more other documents asdesired. As a result, materials disclosing important information aboutthe security may be made more accessible and user-friendly to theinvestor, as well as to intermediaries, financial analysts and otherusers, enabling these parties to more easily compare differentsecurities across one or more dimensions, and thereby make more informedinvestment decisions.

An example format for a summary prospectus and corresponding onlineversion are depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively. Example summaryprospectus 100 (FIG. 1) includes an indication 101 of a security towhich it relates, a title 102, and various sections each providinginformation about the considered security in summary-level, synopsisform. For example, section 103 provides information on the security'sinvestment objective, section 104 provides information on its associatedfees and expenses, section 105 provides information on its principalinvestment strategies, section 106 provides information on principalrisks associated with its investments, section 107 provides informationon annual returns earned in prior periods, section 108 providesinformation on its investment advisor, section 109 provides informationon its fund manager, section 110 provides information on the purchaseand sale of security shares, dividends, capital gains and taxes, andsection 111 provides information on payments to broker/dealers and/orother intermediaries. Of course, a summary prospectus is not limited topresenting the information shown in example summary prospectus 100, asany suitable information (including additional or different information)regarding any one or more securities may be presented. In addition, asummary prospectus may present information relating to a mutual fund,although the invention is not limited to such an implementation.Embodiments of the invention may provide information relating to any oneor more types of securities, including mutual funds, variable annuities,exchange traded funds, and/or any other type(s) of security. Embodimentsof the invention are not limited to any particular implementation.

Summary prospectus 100 also includes URL 112, which in the embodimentdepicted references an online version of the summary prospectus whichprovides an investor with access to more detailed information on thesecurity. If summary prospectus 100 is provided to the investor in hardcopy, printed form, then the investor may enter the URL into the addressbar provided by a browser program (not shown) to access the onlineversion. If summary prospectus 100 is provided to the investor inelectronic form (e.g., in an electronic document e-mailed to theinvestor), then the URL may be “clickable” by the investor to bring theinvestor to the online version.

An example online version 200 of summary prospectus 100 is shown in FIG.2. In many respects, online version 200 is similar to summary prospectus100, as it includes much of the same summary-level information includedin summary prospectus 100, presented in much the same order.Specifically, in the example shown, online version 200 includesindication 201 of the security to which the web page relates, title 202,and sections 203-211 which correspond to sections 103-111 shown inFIG. 1. Of course, the invention is not limited to such animplementation, as an online version of a summary prospectus may includeany suitable information, which may or may not correlate directly toinformation presented in a summary prospectus. The invention is notlimited to any particular implementation.

In example online version 200, each of sections 203-211 includes thesame information as is presented in the corresponding section of summaryprospectus 100, as well as a link (e.g., a hypertext link) to moredetailed information regarding the considered topic. For example,section 204 includes information on the security's fees and expenses,and includes link 214 which references more detailed information on thesecurity's fees and expenses, which (in this example) is included withinan electronic version of a full statutory prospectus 250 for thesecurity, which includes information on discounts and/or exemptions forinventors who satisfy certain criteria. By clicking link 214, theinvestor is taken to location 251 within the statutory prospectus whichincludes this detailed information so that the investor may review thedetailed information before deciding whether to invest in the security.

Of course, a link within an online version of a summary prospectus neednot reference a statutory prospectus, as any suitable document(s) orinformation may be referenced. For example, section 209 includesinformation on the security's fund manager, and includes link 219 whichreferences more detailed information on the fund's manager. If theinvestor notices that there has been a change to the security's fundmanager since he/she last reviewed disclosure information (e.g., thelast statutory prospectus sent to the investor), he/she may click link219, which in this example references a location within an electronicversion of a supplement 260 (i.e., a “sticker”) to the prospectus. Thesupplement may have been issued after the last full statutoryprospectus, and may provide more up-to-date detailed informationregarding the new fund manager, such as his/her prior managementexperience and/or tenure at the securities issuer, than the laststatutory prospectus.

It should be appreciated that a link within an online version of asummary prospectus need not reference a specific location within anunderlying detailed document at which detailed information is contained.For example, a link may reference a table of contents in an underlyingdocument (or other information) which indicates to the investor whereinformation on a considered topic may be found, may reference a start ofthe document (allowing the investor to find the detailed informationherself), or reference any other suitable location(s).

In example online version 200, each section includes a link to moredetailed information. Thus, in this example, a user may click on link213 to access detailed information on the security's investmentobjective, link 214 to access detailed information on its associatedfees and expenses, link 215 to access detailed information on itsprincipal investment strategies, link 216 to access detailed informationon principal risks associated with its investments, link 217 to accessdetailed information on annual returns earned in prior periods, link 218to access detailed information on its investment advisor, link 219 toaccess detailed information on its fund manager, link 220 to accessdetailed information on the purchase and sale of shares, dividends,capital gains and taxes, and link 221 to access detailed information onpayments to broker/dealers and/or other intermediaries. It should beappreciated that an online version need not include a link in eachsection, no link, or more than one link, may be provided in a section ofan online version. Embodiments of the invention are not limited to anyparticular implementation.

Using the links provided in online version 200 to access underlyingdetailed information, the investor may readily navigate between “layers”of disclosure on the security. In this respect, the disclosure insummary prospectus 100 may be considered as providing a first layer ofinformation, including a concise synopsis of certain key informationconsidered important to many investors. Using URL 112, the investor mayaccess the second layer provided within online version 200, which mayinclude much the same information as summary prospectus 100 but alsoenable access to underlying detailed information. Using the linksprovided in online version 200, the investor may so access this detailedinformation, and move back and forth between detailed and summary-levelinformation, thereby quickly and easily gaining access to information onthe topic(s) that he/she considers most important when selecting asecurity for investment.

Some embodiments of the invention provide a system for making a summaryprospectus and/or online version thereof available to investors. Forexample, when a securities issuer publishes a new summary prospectus fora security (e.g., by submitting it to EDGAR), embodiments mayautomatically acquire the summary prospectus document, process it toidentify certain information contained therein, and prepare it fordissemination via any of various media. For example, processing thedocument to identify information contained therein may enable creationof an online version of the document, as well as logical associationsbetween the information in the summary prospectus and correspondingdetailed information provided in other documents (which may be similarlyprocessed via embodiments of the invention to identify this detailedinformation and/or its location within the other documents). Theselogical associations may be used to create references (e.g., hypertextlinks) which are included within the online version, thereby enablingthe user to accomplish the navigation between summary-level and detailedinformation described above.

Some embodiments of the invention provide an online facility with whichnot only an online version of a summary prospectus, but also otherdocuments and materials relating to a considered security, may be madeavailable to investors. For example, the online facility may provideaccess to a repository of documents disseminated over time by the issuerand/or distributors of the security. The facility may, for example,allow investors reviewing an online version of a summary prospectus(e.g., after entering a URL provided in a hard copy summary prospectusinto a browser application) to readily determine whether more currentinformation on the security (e.g., a newer summary prospectus, perhapsreferenced by a URL in a newer hard copy summary prospectus than thatwhich was reviewed by the investor) is available, in addition, thefacility may allow the investor access to historical detail on thesecurity.

Some embodiments of the invention may provide a capability to prepare asummary prospectus for dissemination in hard copy form. For example,some embodiments of the invention may provide a service provider withthe capability to alter the aesthetic characteristics and/or content ofa document submitted by a securities issuer to EDGAR, such as by addingbranding elements or other visual enhancements supplied by thesecurities issuer and/or distributor, such as a broker/dealer throughwhich the investor purchased the security. Some embodiments of theinvention may also provide a capability to suppress the creation and/ordelivery of certain versions of the summary prospectus (e.g., tosuppress delivery to investors that previously received those versions).Aspects of these embodiments are discussed in greater detail below.

The sections which follow describe various systems and processes thatenable the creation and/or dissemination of a summary prospectus, andunderlying detailed documents, in online and hard copy form. Forexample, Section II describes systems and methods for identifying asummary prospectus published by a securities issuer and/or intermediary(e.g., to EDGAR) and storing the summary prospectus in a documentrepository. Section III describes systems and methods for processing thesummary prospectus to identify certain information contained therein,and to create logical associations between this information and moredetailed information provided in underlying documents. Section IVdescribes systems and methods for using these logical associations tocreate references between sections of an online version of a summaryprospectus and corresponding information in other documents, which mayallow an investor to navigate between the online version and theunderlying documents as desired. Section V describes how these systemsand methods described in Sections II-IV may be used to disseminate asummary prospectus and/or online version thereof to investors and/orother parties.

II. Acquiring Compliance Information

Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,122,635, entitled “Mapping ComplianceInformation Into Useable Format,” filed Feb. 13, 1998, the entirety ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference, discloses systems and methodswhich may be employed to acquire information from one or more databases(e.g., EDGAR) identify the information as comprising a statutory and/orsummary prospectus document for a particular security, and create andstore a computer-readable file containing the information for furtherprocessing. Relevant portions of the '635 patent are reproduced belowfor the reader's convenience.

A process 11 for acquiring, identifying and creating a computer-readablethe representing compliance information (one example of which is asummary prospectus) is depicted in FIG. 3. Process 311 includesacquiring securities information from one or more database sources (Step310). One or more portions of the acquired securities information isidentified as being compliance information related to a particularsecurity and extracted from the securities information (Step 312). Acomputer-readable file is then created which includes the complianceinformation (Step 314). This computer readable file, identified as beingthe compliance information for a particular security, may then be storedand/or transmitted electronically to investors.

In one aspect of the invention, the method 311 shown in FIG. 4 isaccomplished by one or more persons operating a programmed computersystem. A block diagram of such a computer system is shown in FIG. 4.The computer may be implemented in any suitable manner, as theparticular type and capabilities of the computer is not central to theinvention. The invention may be implemented in a variety of ways,including an all-hardware embodiment in which dedicated electroniccircuits are designed to perform all of the functionality that theprogrammed computer can perform. An example of the present invention isan implementation in software for execution on a general purposecomputer such as a PC running a version of the Microsoft Windows®operating system.

Referring to FIG. 4, the general purpose computer 444 typically includesa central processor 446, a main memory unit 448 for storing programsand/or data, an input/output (I/O) controller 450, a display device 451,and a data bus 454 coupling these components to allow communicationtherebetween. The memory 448 generally includes random access memory(RAM) and read only memory (ROM). The computer 444 typically also hasone or more input devices 456 such as a keyboard 458, and a mouse 460.The computer typically also has a hard drive 462 with hard disks thereinand a floppy disk drive 464 for receiving floppy disks such as 3.5 inchdisks. A data communications interface 452 such as a modem, an Ethernetcard, or other network interface allows communication with othercomputers on a LAN, intranet or Internet. Other devices also can be partof the computer 444 including output devices 466 (e.g., printer orplotter) and/or optical disk drives for receiving and reading digitaldata on a CD-ROM. In the present invention, one or more computersoftware programs define the operational capabilities of the computer444. These software programs may be loaded onto the hard drive 462and/or into the memory 448 of the computer via the floppy disk drive 464or the data communications interface 452.

Referring to FIG. 5, one aspect of the present invention includes acomputer 592 connected to a network 594 via a data communicationsinterface 552. Computer programs that implement an embodiment of theinvention are stored on a program server 590, which is another computer,that can be implemented by a general purpose computer 444. Generally,the program server 590 has high performance components, such as a highspeed processor 446 and hard drive 462, and a large amount of memory448. The programs may be stored on the server 590 in, for example, HTMLand Java languages. The computer 592 runs commercially availableworldwide web browser software, such as Netscape Navigator® or MicrosoftExplorer. The browser software, downloads the HTML and Java programsfrom the program server 590, and executes the programs. The use of anetwork 594 and browser software makes the programs available to a largenumber of computers on the network simultaneously. This facilitatesoperation of the system by multiple users at the same time.

Referring to FIG. 6, one aspect of the present invention includes anobtainment system 600. Obtainment system 600 contains an acquisitionsubsystem 610, a cataloging subsystem 612, a splitting subsystem 614, aneffective date subsystem 616, and a quality assurance subsystem 618.Obtainment system 600 receives input from an identification list 603,securities submissions sources 605, and other data sources 607.Obtainment subsystem 600 produces compliance information (e.g., asummary prospectus) that may be delivered to a customer, or stored in acompliance information database 625 for subsequent delivery to acustomer.

The acquisition subsystem 610 receives input from the securitiessubmission sources 605 and other data sources 607. The securitiesinformation acquired by acquisition subsystem 610 is placed on acataloging queue 630.

Cataloging subsystem 612 retrieves the securities information from thecataloging queue 630 and catalogs it. The cataloging subsystem 612 alsoreceives as input, the securities information from the cataloging queue630, as well as identification list 603, and other data 607. Aftercataloging, the securities information is placed on the splitting queue632.

The splitting subsystem 614 retrieves the securities information fromthe splitting queue 632. After the splitting subsystem 614 determinesstart and end points of each item of compliance information in an itemof securities information, the securities information is placed on theeffective date queue 634.

The effective date subsystem 616 retrieves the securities informationfrom the effective date queue 634, and determines an effective date foreach item of compliance information (e.g., a summary prospectus) in thesecurities information. The compliance information is then placed on thequality assurance queue 636.

The quality assurance subsystem retrieves the securities informationfrom the quality assurance queue 636. The compliance information isreviewed in the quality assurance subsystem 618, and then output fromthe obtainment system 600.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, a system operator uses the computer 592executing a browser program to connect to program server 590. Uponconnecting to the program server 590, the system operator chooses, or isassigned, a particular subsystem. The system operator chooses or isassigned items on the respective input queue for that subsystem andoperates the subsystem to process the retrieved data.

By dividing the system 600 into multiple subsystems and queued input foreach subsystem, the processing of the documents is divided up intosub-tasks. Multiple system operators can be assigned to one of thesub-tasks, and can therefore process securities informationsimultaneously. For example, if there are four system operators, thefirst system operator may process a first securities informationdocument in the cataloging subsystem, a second system operator mayprocess a second securities information document in the catalogingsubsystem, a third system operator may process a third securitiesinformation document in the splitting subsystem, and a fourth systemoperator may process a fourth securities information document in the QAsubsystem. Using multiple system operators allows for rapid processingof securities submissions through the system.

Acquisition subsystem 610 extracts files from the securities informationsource that contain securities information relevant to the subset ofsecurities for which the user desires compliance information accordingto a process as shown in FIG. 7. In one aspect of the present invention,the securities submission source is queried to extract all the filesassociated with a particular company, step 702. The particular companymay be determined by its central index key or by the company name.Because this may not be the first access for that particular company,the sources are compared to the information that is already in thedatabase that is part of the system, so that the same document is notacquired twice, step 704. The subsystem thereby acquires submissionsregarding securities that the user is interested in and that have notbeen previously processed, step 706. The acquisition subsystem, step708, associates the retrieved securities filing documents with theparticular company and then the acquisition subsystem passes thesubmissions to the cataloging subsystem 612.

As part of its service, EDGAR provides an index to the securitiesinformation added each day. In one aspect of the present invention, theacquisition subsystem 610 automatically acquires those documents thatwere added that day. The EDGAR index lists a central index keyassociated with each item of securities information. Acquisitionsubsystem 610 uses the EDGAR index to acquire the most recentinformation for a specific list of central index keys, step 710. Thelist of central index keys is determined from a list of securities, eachof which has a unique identifier. For example, a list of securitiesidentified by CUSIP number or stock ticker symbol may be mapped into alist of central index keys. Specific entries in the EDGAR index areidentified, step 712, and then retrieved, step 714. The process thenproceeds to step 708 as described above.

The cataloging subsystem 612 presents the system operator with thesecurities submissions that are relevant. The system operator inspectseach submission and catalogs it according to the information containedwithin. Each submission may contain several items of complianceinformation. The system operator identifies the particular securitiesabout which the submission contains compliance information.

Another aspect of the present invention scans the submission taken fromthe cataloging queue and searches for and identifies possible referencesto securities within the submission. The operator would then be directedto the locations of these identified securities within the submission inorder to verify.

Any one or more of an internal identification number, CUSIP identifiersand stock ticker symbol may be used to identify a particular security.The internal identification number is unique for each security. A CUSIPnumber is a number assigned by Standard & Poor's CUSIP Service Bureau,the manager of the American Banking Association's CUSIP number system,to identify a security. A stock ticker symbol is a symbol assigned by astock exchange to identify a security. An investor is most likely toreference a security, such as a mutual fund, by any one of: the fundname marketed to the consumer, the CUSIP number, or the stock tickersymbol, and not by the investment company name or the central index key.

For example, a section 800 of securities information acquired from theSEC EDGAR database is shown in FIG. 8. The section 800 may include acompany data portion 802 including a company name 804, a central indexkey 806, an IRS number 808, an address 810 and, if applicable, formercompany name(s) 812. The company data indicates the source of thesubmission (not shown), but does not necessarily specify the securitiesdescribed in the submission. A particular investment management fund mayhave one to hundreds of funds, and information about all or some subsetof those funds may be in one or more particular EDGAR submission.

Operation of one example of a cataloging subsystem 612 is presented inFIG. 9. A securities submission from the cataloging queue 630 ispresented to a system operator and retrieved at step 900. In one exampleof operation, as shown in FIG. 10, the Securities submission portion 900may b visible in one section of a display screen 1000 and cataloginginformation 1002 may be visible on another section. A unique line number1004 is assigned to each line of the securities submission 900 at step902. The securities submission is not permanently modified to includethe line numbers, rather, the line numbers are shown only for thepurpose of aiding in the cataloging and extracting of the complianceinformation.

The cataloging section 1002 of the screen 1000 presents a list ofcataloging choices as retrieved in step 904. Cataloging choices includepossible CUSIP numbers or stock ticker symbols, the type of complianceinformation contained in the document for example prospectus, statementof additional information (SAI), etc.), and the start line of each itemof compliance information. As the system operator reviews the securitiessubmission, the system operator selects the appropriate catalogingchoices.

The operator, aided by the cataloging subsystem, compares the list ofcataloging choices to the contents of the retrieved file, step 906. If acataloging choice is located in the retrieved file, step 908, controlpasses to step 910. At step 910, the line number associated with thestart of the identified cataloging choice is recorded. If the processingof the file is not complete, as determined in step 912, the processreturns to step 906. If the file has completed processing, at step 914,a next file is retrieved from the cataloging queue and the processreturns to step 902.

The splitting subsystem 614 determines the starting line and ending lineof the compliance information that the system will use to extractcompliance information from the securities submissions documents. Forexample, if the submission contains two SAIs, each for a differentsecurity, the starting and ending lines of the two items of complianceinformation will be associated with their respective security. Thesplitting subsystem presents the system operator with the securitiessubmission and the catalog data for that submission. The system operatorverifies the starting line and specifies the ending line of each item ofcompliance information. When the starting and ending line numbers ofcompliance information in the securities submission have beenidentified, the securities submission is then placed on the effectivedate queue.

In one embodiment, the splitting subsystem 614 is accessed at least twotimes for each securities submission by two different system operators.The starting and ending line numbers identified by the two systemoperators are compared in the quality assurance subsystem to confirmaccuracy.

In one example of the system, the splitting subsystem 614 alsodetermines whether the compliance information relates to, or isassociated with, more than one security. For example, for a bundledproduct such as a variable annuity fund, an EDGAR filing may be relatedto more than one investment product. One item of compliance informationmay be applicable to many different investment products. Thisassociation, as determined in the splitting subsystem, is used later toassociate the compliance information with the relevant securities.Alternatively, in other versions of the system, this association mayoccur in the cataloging subsystem 612, or the effective date subsystem616.

Operation of one example of the splitting subsystem 614 is presented inFIG. 11. An entry from the splitting queue is retrieved at step 1102. Anassociated cataloging choice and a starting line number for thecataloging choice are retrieved from the entry in the splitting queue,step 1104. That portion of the associated securities filing documentincluding the retrieved line number is accessed, step 1106. An endingline number for the retrieved cataloging choice is determined at step1108. The determined ending line number is associated with theassociated cataloging choice in the effective date queue at step 1110.At step 1112, it is determined whether or not there are more entries inthe splitting queue to be processed. If there are more entries to beprocessed, control returns to step 1102 to process the next entry,otherwise the process is stopped.

As shown in FIG. 12, the effective date subsystem 616 supports adetermination of an effective date of the documents produced by thecataloging process. The system operator retrieves a file from theeffective date queue, steps 1202, 1204, and determines the respectiveeffective date of the information therein. If the system operator cannotdetermine the effective date, but the compliance information has beendetermined to be a prospectus, and the system operator can determine thefiling type, filing date and the prospectus date, then the systemoperator can determine the effective date, step 1206, through knowledgeof applicable filing requirements and features built into the system,such as an automatic obsolescence feature that relates to the age of thedocument. After the effective date has been determined, the securitiessubmission and its associated effective date are associated and placedon the quality assurance queue, step 1208.

The effective date is determined based on the type of securitiessubmission. For example, if the securities submission contains a 497 or485BPOS filing, then the prospectus date is generally the effectivedate. If the document is a 485APOS filing, then the filing date is the“Filed As Of Date.” The effective date is generally either theprospectus date or the filing date plus sixty days, whichever is later.If the prospectus registers a new series cu stock, however, then theeffective date is either the prospectus date or the filing date plusseventy-five days, whichever is later. If the prospectus date isincomplete, for example “January ______, 2008,” the operator can use hisor her knowledge of applicable filing requirements to determine theeffective date. For 497 and 485BPOS filings, for example, the filingdate is the effective date, and for 485APOS, the effective date is sixtydays after the filing date, unless it is registering new shares, inwhich case the effective date is seventy-five days after the filingdate.

In one version of the system, the effective date subsystem 616 alsodetermines if the compliance information is amending another item ofcompliance information. If it is an amendment, the complianceinformation is effective when the compliance information it is amendingis effective. The effective date system sets the effective lifespan,i.e., a date the compliance information is effective and a date that itis no longer effective, to that of the amended compliance information.There are other relationships between submission types and effectivedates that may be used to determine the effective date of a documentbeing used as the basis for compliance information.

The quality assurance subsystem 618 is the final subsystem in the chainbefore the compliance information is output from the obtainment system.The quality assurance subsystem 618 aids an operator in the inspectionof the compliance information. The system operator chooses, or isassigned, an item from the quality assurance queue, step 1302, as shownin FIG. 13. The system operator verities, step 1304, that the securitiessubmission referenced in the retrieved item has been processed by allsubsystems. If not, at step 1306 the item is placed in the queue for thefirst subprocess that was missed. The system operator verifies that thecatalog information is correct, and verifies the effective date, thedocument type, the issuer, the fund, the class, whether the document iscomplete, whether there is extra data, whether the document is properlyformatted, as well as any other relevant information.

In the example in which the splitting subsystem 614 is accessed twiceindependently, the quality assurance system nay compare the starting andending lines specified by the previous two splitting subsystem 614system operators for each item of compliance information. If any of theinformation for the retrieved item is not complete, step 1308, thesystem operator may place the securities submission on any of the queuesfor processing by a subsystem, step 1310. Of course, if the analysisdetermines that the processing should be repeated in more than onesubsystem, the quality assurance system operator may choose to place thesecurities submission in the most “upstream” subsystem's queue. Once thesystem operator has verified that the compliance information will beextracted correctly, the extraction takes place and the complianceinformation is output from the obtainment system 600.

Extraction involves copying information from the securities submissiondocument as a function of the starting and ending lines determinedwithin the obtainment system 600 as described above. Of course, the sameportion of the securities submission document may be retrieved asrelevant to different securities. Each security would then have its ownrespective compliance information document.

If, as determined at step 1312, an error occurred during processing byany of the subsystems, for example if a securities submission does notcontain necessary information, then the securities submission is placedon the error queue, step 1314. A system operator may look at thesecurities submissions that have been placed on the error queue at alater time to solve the problems encountered.

Once output from the obtainment system, the compliance information maybe stored in a file system on either computer 592 or program server 590,step 1316. The compliance information may also be stored in a complianceinformation server 625. At step 1318, if it is determined that there aremore entries in the quality assurance queue, control passes to step 1320where the next entry from the queue is retrieved. The process thenstarts again at step 1304.

In one example, the compliance information server 625 may include adocument processor for converting the compliance information from itsnative format, for example ASCII text or HTML format, into anotherformat, for example into Microsoft Word® or Adobe Acrobat® format. Ofcourse, the compliance information, once extracted, may be kept in thesource format as the original financial submission. The complianceinformation is then stored.

In one example of the present invention, the compliance informationserver 625 is incorporated into the same machine as the obtainmentsystem 600. In this case a system for providing access to complianceinformation would include obtainment system 600 and an accessing systemthat incorporated compliance information server 625. In anotherembodiment the compliance information server 625 is a separate serverfrom the obtainment system 600.

Referring to FIG. 14, a compliance information server 625 is shownconnected to network 655. Client computer 650 running browser softwaremay access the compliance information server via the network to retrievethe compliance information. The compliance information server makes thecompliance information available over a network, such as a LAN, intranetor the Internet. In another example, the compliance information server625 distributes the compliance information directly to a user orspecified group of users via the network. In yet another example, thecompliance information server notifies users when new complianceinformation has become available at the server by sending a message overthe network.

The compliance information server 625 has access to the complianceinformation as well as the catalog information about the particularsecurity associated with the compliance information. For example, all ofthe compliance information for a particular security may be listed.Because the compliance information server has the information that wasentered by the system operator when the document was processed by thecataloging subsystem, all the compliance information for a particularsecurity may be accessed either by the name of the security as it ismarketed to the customer, the CUSIP number of the security, or the stockticker symbol of the security.

Referring to FIG. 15, one example of a compliance information serverincludes compliance information, an indexer, and an output. Thecompliance information is stored on a hard disk 1500, but it also may bestored on other media, in memory, or on another system that thecompliance information server has access to over the network. Thecompliance information includes the compliance information produced byobtainment system 600. Compliance information server 625 also includescatalog information produced by system operators using obtainment system600. An indexer 1502 accesses the compliance information and the cataloginformation and identifies all compliance information associated with aparticular security. Alternatively, indexer 1502 does not use thecatalog information 1501, but instead searches each item of complianceinformation 1500 to determine the particular security with which it isassociated. Indexer 1502 may keep a list of the compliance informationstored on hard disk 400 to increase the speed of production of a list ofall compliance information associated with a particular security.

A request to compliance information server 625 may come in the form of aunique identifier for the security, such as an internal identifier, aCUSIP number or a stock ticker symbol. The indexer identifies thecompliance information associated with that unique identifier. Thecompliance information server may output a list of the complianceinformation documents that are available. Alternatively, it may outputthe compliance information. In one example, the compliance informationserver receives a request for a list of all the information for aparticular security. The request is in the form of a request for a webpage. In response, the compliance information server 625 outputs a listof the compliance information. The list is in the form of a worldwideweb page that contains finks to each of the items of complianceinformation. The worldwide web page may also contain links to otherinformation about that security.

Referring to FIG. 16, a method for responding to requests for complianceinformation includes receiving a unique identifier (step 1650). Theunique identifier may be a unique internal identifier, a CUSIP number,or a stock ticker symbol. The method may also include transmittingcompliance information in response to receipt of the unique identifier(step 1652). The compliance information server is capable ofaccomplishing the steps of the method because the compliance informationserver has the compliance information and it can associate thecompliance information with the particular security specified by theunique identifier.

It should be appreciated that the foregoing description with referenceto FIGS. 3-16 discloses a capability to either identify a summaryprospectus made available by a securities issuer as being related to oneor more particular securities and extract the summary prospectus (e.g.,from a larger body of data representing a full statutory prospectus forthe one or more securities), or to identify a full statutory prospectusas being related to the one or more securities from which a summaryprospectus may be created. In either case, one or more computer-readablefiles containing extracted information may be created and stored (e.g.,in a repository containing other computer-readable documents relating tothe one or more securities), which may then be processed as described inthe following sections to either identify individual data elementswithin a summary prospectus made available by a securities issuer, or tocreate a summary prospectus from a full statutory prospectus byidentifying certain key data elements within the statutory prospectusand copying or extracting them to a summary prospectus.

III. Identifying Data Elements Provided Within Compliance information

Commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/135,834 disclosessystems and methods which may be employed to identify one or moreparticular data elements within a computer-readable file containingsummary prospectus information (which may be identified using the systemdescribed above in Section I) and to insert markers into thecomputer-readable file indicating the presence of this data. Using thissystem (as an example), individual sections of a summary prospectusdocument, and various data elements included in each section, may beidentified, enabling the creation of an online version of the summaryprospectus.

Commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/821,121, filedApr. 8, 2004, entitled “System For Locating Data Elements WithinOriginating Data Sources,” the entirety of which is incorporated hereinby reference and relevant portions of which are reproduced below,discloses techniques for employing these markers to create logicalassociations between information included in various documents. Usingthese techniques, for example, a summary and statutory prospectus madeavailable by a securities issuer may be processed to insert references(e.g., links) into sections of an online version of the summaryprospectus to enable an investor to navigate from the sections of theonline version to underlying detailed information provided in thestatutory prospectus. In another example, these techniques may be usedto process a statutory prospectus, identify certain key data elementscontained within, and generate a summary prospectus to include these keydata elements and references from sections of the summary prospectuscontaining one or more of the data elements to portions of the statutoryprospectus providing more detailed information regarding the dataelement(s).

Some embodiments of the invention provide a capability to analyze one ormore underlying documents (e.g., a statutory prospectus) to identify thelocation(s) within the document(s) at which detailed informationcorresponding to high-level information provided in a summary prospectusis found. Once the location(s) are identified, references may be createdto corresponding detailed information. Portions of the information atthe identified location(s) may be used to generate a summary prospectus,and the references may be inserted into the appropriate sections of theonline version of the summary prospectus, so as to enable investors toreadily navigate between high-level information in the summaryprospectus and supporting detailed information contained in otherdocuments. Alternatively, if a summary prospectus is made available by asecurities issuer along with a corresponding statutory prospectus,references to portions of the statutory prospectus may be inserted intosections of the summary prospectus to enable investors to navigatebetween the high-level information in the summary prospectus and thesupporting detail in the statutory prospectus.

An example process for inspecting a document to identify the location(s)at which information is found is depicted in FIG. 16. In someembodiments, output from obtainment system 600 (e.g., summary prospectusinformation obtained from EDGAR, as well as other documents providingunderlying detailed information) is provided as source documents in1602. In 1604, the document(s) are tagged, resulting in a taggeddocument in 1606. The tagged document may enable tagged informationtherein to be retrievable, as described below.

The identification of individual data items so that they may be taggedis described in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 17 and 18.Specifically, FIG. 17 depicts a process for identifying individual dataitems, and FIG. 18 depicts a system for performing the method of FIG.17.

At the start of the process of FIG. 17, in act 1710, a receipt facility1810 performs a preliminary identification of source information 1800.For example, in an embodiment wherein source information 1800 comprisesa security filing, receipt facility 1810 may identify the type offiling, the issuer, the relevant security(ies), and/or otherinformation. This may be performed in any suitable fashion. For example,receipt facility 1810 may scan the source information 1800 and comparedata found therein with one or more data structures containing listingsof the known types of filing, securities, issuers, and/or other data.Upon the preliminary identification of source information 1800 byreceipt facility 1810, act 1710 completes.

The process then proceeds to act 1720, wherein one or more specific dataelements are located within the source information 1800. In someembodiments, identification is performed by processing facility 1820,which performs the identification and location using output receivedfrom receipt facility 1810, as well as input provided by a human user.Specifically, in some embodiments, processing module 1820 receivesoutput from receipt facility 1810 which defines, based on thepreliminarily identification performed by receipt facility 1810, thetype of source information 1800. Processing facility 1820 uses thisinformation to access one or more of a collection of data structures(e.g., flat files) which each contain one or more encoded parametersthat are descriptive of data elements commonly found within the sourceinformation. Processing facility 1820 utilizes the encoded parameters tolocate the data elements within the source information. Once a dataelement has been located in the source information, processing facility1820 issues a prompt to a human user via a graphical user interface(GUI) to confirm that the data element has been correctly identified.

In some embodiments, encoded parameters are provided as text within adata structure. One or more data structures may collectively represent a“taxonomy” for a specific type of source information interpreted byprocessing facility 1820. Specifically, a taxonomy may define thecharacteristics of each of the data elements commonly found within theconsidered type of source information. A taxonomy may define dataelement characteristics for any type of source information. For example,a taxonomy may define characteristics of data elements within a type ofsecurities filing from all issuers (e.g., all mutual fund prospectuses),all filings from a specific issuer, all filings from all issuers, or anyother suitable grouping of source information. Further, more than onetaxonomy may be applicable to a specific type of source information. Theinvention is not limited in this respect.

A taxonomy may include one or more descriptive characteristics for eachdata element to be identified within the source information. Forexample, a taxonomy for a mutual fund prospectus might provideparameters defining descriptive characteristics for a “portfoliomanager” data element as it appears within a fund prospectus. Forexample, a parameter for the portfolio manager data element may indicatethat this data element is normally accompanied by the text “portfoliomanager” within the source information. Any of numerous descriptivecharacteristics may be provided as a parameter for a data element withina taxonomy. For example, a parameter may indicate that a specific dataelement is normally accompanied by specific text (as with the exampleprovided above), is normally found at a specific location within thesource information (e.g., at the end of the document, or at the top of apage), normally receives a specific graphical treatment is provided in aspecific font, as an icon, and/or in a specific color), or otherwiseconforms to a rule regarding its appearance or presence within sourceinformation.

A taxonomy may include more than one parameter for a specific dataelement. For example, a taxonomy for a fund prospectus may contain afirst parameter for the portfolio manager data element which indicatesthat it is normally accompanied by the text “portfolio manager,” asecond parameter which indicates that it is normally found at the top ofthe second page of the prospectus, and a third parameter which indicatesthat it is provided in a specific font. Further, a taxonomy may specifywhich of these parameters must be satisfied in order for the dataelement to be identified. For example, a taxonomy may specify that onlythe first and second of the above-listed parameters must be satisfied toidentify the portfolio manager data element, that all three parametersmust be satisfied, that only one must be satisfied, or any othersuitable combination of these parameters. The invention is not limitedto a particular implementation in this respect.

In one embodiment, processing facility 1820 loads one or more taxonomiesto memory and implements the encoded parameters therein as it processesthe source information. In one embodiment, as the processing facility1820 reads the source information it compares the characteristics of thesource information with characteristics represented in the parameters.As in the example provided above, the taxonomy for a specific type ofsource information may contain a parameter which indicates that thepresence of the text “portfolio manager” within that source informationindicates the presence of the portfolio manager data element. As theprocessing facility 1820 reads the source information and compares itscharacteristics with those reflected by the parameters, uponencountering the text “portfolio manager” in the source information theprocessing facility may determine that the condition set forth by aparameter is satisfied, and identify the portfolio manager data elementwithin the source information.

In some embodiments, a taxonomy may specify that a data element isaccompanied by specific text or the equivalent of that text in any ofseveral languages. For example, a taxonomy may specify that a portfoliomanager data element is accompanied by the text “portfolio manager,” orthe equivalent to “portfolio manager” in French, Spanish, Russian,Chinese, Japanese or any other language. Each of these equivalents to“portfolio manager” may simply be encoded as individual parameterswithin the taxonomy itself, or processing facility 1820 may beconfigured to translate text into one or more other languages as needed.In this respect, it should be appreciated that text used to identify adata element need not be provided in English characters, and may beprovided in Cyrillic, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese or any other suitablecharacters.

As discussed above, a taxonomy need not identify a data element byspecifying text that normally accompanies the data element. A taxonomymay specify any attribute of a data element, such as its placementwithin source information, graphical treatment, or any other suitableattribute. Further, a taxonomy need not identify a data element using asingle characteristic, as it may do so using a combination ofcharacteristics, only a subset of which may need to be satisfied toidentify the data element. As a result, processing facility 1820 mayperform one or more logical operations to evaluate a combination ofcharacteristics to identify a data element. For example, a taxonomy mayspecify that two characteristics must be satisfied for a specific dataelement to be identified. As a result, processing facility 1820 may scanthe source information to determine that both characteristics aresatisfied before identifying the data element. In another example, ataxonomy may specify that two of a group of three characteristics mustbe satisfied, in which case processing facility 1820 may perform logicaloperations commensurate with this identification criteria. Anycombination of logical operations, involving any combination ofcharacteristics, may be performed to identify a data element, as theinvention is not limited in this respect.

As discussed above, upon preliminarily identifying a data element insource information, processing facility 1820 may prompt a human user toconfirm that the data element has been correctly identified. The processby means of which a human user interacts with the process to confirm theidentification of one or more data elements is described in furtherdetail below. However, with respect to the function of a taxonomy, itshould be noted that a response received from a human user as to whethera data element has been correctly identified may be used to update thetaxonomy. For example, if a taxonomy fails to correctly identify aportfolio manager data element within source information, perhapsbecause the text “portfolio manager” accompanies information other thanthe portfolio manager data element, then the user's input indicatingthat the portfolio manager data element has not been correctlyidentified may be used to update the taxonomy. For example, a GUI mayprompt the user to manually identify the portfolio manager data elementwithin the source information, and prompt the user to provide one ormore characteristics defining the correct portfolio manager dataelement. For example, the GUI may enable the user to specify that thecorrect portfolio manager data element is, in fact, accompanied by thetext “portfolio manager” (e.g., it may be one of many components of thesource information which is accompanied by that text) but also that theportfolio manager data element is found at the top of a page within thesource information, is given a specific graphical treatment, or isidentifiable in some other manner. In another example, the GUI mayenable the user to specify that the portfolio manager data element isnot accompanied by the text “portfolio manager,” but rather the text“investment manager.” In this manner, interaction with the user mayallow the taxonomy to flexibly adapt over time in accordance to changesto source information, such as changes to format and/or content ofsource information initiated by securities issuers.

Even if a taxonomy correctly identifies a data element, a user's inputmay be useful for keeping the taxonomy in conformance with thecharacteristics of source information. For example, if a taxonomyspecifies that the portfolio manager data element is normallyaccompanied by the text “portfolio manager” but fails to specify thatthe data element also always appears in a specific location within thesource information, processing facility 1820 may cause the taxonomy tobe updated to add the location characteristic. Further, processingfacility 1820 may indicate that the new characteristic is one which mustbe satisfied for the data element to be identified, or may be one of acombination of characteristics which might be satisfied and which isexamined as part of a logical operation performed by processing facility1820, as described above. This manner of updating a taxonomy to moreclosely conform to the characteristics of source information may beperformed automatically, or upon receiving confirmation by a user thatthe update should occur. For example, processing facility 1820 maysimply update the taxonomy over time upon observing characteristics ofthe data element as it appears in the source information, or may cause auser to be prompted (e.g., via a GUI) as to whether an observedcharacteristic should be added to a taxonomy.

At the completion of act 1720, the process of FIG. 17 completes.

After individual data items are identified, the identified data item(s)may be tagged. For example, identified items may be tagged usingeXtensible Markup Language (XML) tags, as is known in the art. In someembodiments, the elements contained in an XML tagged document aredefined in a Document Type Declaration (DTD). A validating parserprogram may, for example, cheek an XML tagged document for errors.

An example of a DTD, not intended to limit the present invention, isshown in FIG. 19. A number of different elements, some of which includesub-elements, are presented in this example DTD. A compliance documentthat has been tagged is presented in FIG. 20.

FIG. 21 depicts a DTD wherein the element labeled“performance.annualtotalreturns” may be used to generate a chartpresenting the annual total returns for the fund's past ten years. Forexample, the annual return information within the DTD shown in FIG. 21may be used to generate a bar chart of the fund's annual return for theyears 1990-1999.

The processes described in this section may be used to not only identifyand tag individual items of information contained within a summaryprospectus, but also to identify and tag detailed information whichcorresponds to these data items contained in other compliance documents(e.g., a full statutory prospectus, statement of additional information(SAI), etc.). Once a logical association is created between items ofinformation, references (e.g., hyperlinks) may be created between itemsin the summary prospectus and more detailed information contained in anunderlying (in the following description, “source”) document orinformation.

In some embodiments, once a data element and its location within thesource information is identified, an indication of the location (e.g.,along with other information) may be stored in electronic file storage.In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 18, the indication of the location ofthe data element is denoted as anchor 1823.

Anchor 1823 may express the location of a data element within sourceinformation in any of numerous ways. For example, a location may beexpressed as a beginning data character (i.e., in an alphanumeric ortext file containing the source information) for the data element and aquantity of characters over which the data element extends. In anotherexample, a location may be expressed as a section of a page, such asmight be provided by an HTML hyperlink containing a “#” sectionreference. In yet another example, a location may be expressed as acollection of pixels in an image file, such that the collection ofpixels defines a portion of the image. In still another example, ananchor may not specify a particular location within source information,but may simply specify the source information in its entirety. Anysuitable manner of expressing a location at which a data element appearswithin source information may be employed, as the invention is notlimited in this respect.

The anchor 1823, as well as a corresponding data element 1821 and arepresentation of source information 1825, may be stored in electronicfile storage 1830. The representation of source information 1825 maycomprise, for example, source information 1800 in electronic form, ascreated by receipt facility 1810 (e.g., if source information 1800 wasprovided in hard copy form). The representation of source information1825 may alternatively comprise a copy of source information 1800, if itwas provided in electronic form to receipt facility 1810.

In some embodiments, storing anchor 1823, data element 1821 and sourceinformation 1825 in electronic file storage entails creating a logicalassociation therebetween. A logical association may be established, forexample, using conventional database technology. For example, if anchor1823, data element 1821 and source information 1825 are stored inrelational database tables, a logical association may be establishedwith a foreign key from one table entry to another, as is well-known inthe art. A logical association may be established in any suitablemanner.

Once the logical association is established, anchor 1823 may be used toretrieve source information 1825 (for a portion thereof) at which a dataelement resides. For example, a user viewing an online version of asummary prospectus may retrieve, using corresponding anchor 1823, sourceinformation 1825, which may provide additional detail on an item ofinformation included within the online version of the summaryprospectus.

One example of a process 2200 for retrieving source information in thismanner is shown in FIG. 22. Upon the start of process 2200, a command isreceived to display the data element as it is presented in sourceinformation. This command may be issued by, for example, a human uservia a GUI. The GUI may for example, display the data element in a mannerwhich informs the user that he/she may retrieve and display the dataelement as it was presented in source information. This may be done inany of numerous ways, such as with a graphical emphasis on the dataelement (e.g., an underline) as it is presented on the GUI.

A command may be created and issued in any suitable fashion. In oneexample, a command may be issued upon a user's invocation of a hyperlinkassociated with the data element and presented via a GUI, such as abrowser application executing on a device in communication with theelectronic file storage in which the anchor and/or source information isstored electronic file storage 1830). Upon invocation of the hyperlink,the browser application may create and issue a command to the electronicfile storage 1830, via any suitable communication protocol. Thisdescription of an exemplary command should not be construed as limiting,as a command may be issued, generated or communicated in any suitablemanner and using any suitable mechanism, and may take any suitable form.Further, the command may be issued to and from any suitable device. Whenthe command is received by the device, act 2210 completes.

Then the process proceeds to act 2220, wherein the command is processedto determine the anchor corresponding to the data element. In someembodiments, the hyperlink described above may be encoded to specify theanchor. In other embodiments, the anchor corresponding to the dataelement may be determined using a logical association between the anchorand data element, such as which may be provided by a database (asdescribed above) or other data structure. The identification of theanchor corresponding to the data element may be performed in anysuitable fashion, as the invention is not limited in this respect. Uponthe identification of the anchor corresponding to the data element, act2220 completes.

The process then proceeds to act 2230, wherein the anchor is retrieved.This may be accomplished, for example, by executing an instructionspecifying the anchor to retrieve a record representing the anchor fromelectronic file storage. Upon the retrieval of the anchor, act 2230completes.

The process then proceeds to act 2240, wherein the anchor is employed toretrieve source information, and more specifically the data element aspresented in the source information. In some embodiments, the recordrepresenting the anchor retrieved in the act 2230 may supply anidentifier for another record which contains or refers to the sourceinformation. This other identifier may be included in an instructionwhich is executed to retrieve the record and access the sourceinformation. Upon the retrieval of the source information, act 2240completes.

The process then proceeds to act 2250, wherein the source information,and more specifically the portion of the source information whichincludes the data element, is presented. In some embodiments, theelectronic file storage may transmit the source information to a devicewhich executes a GUI (e.g., the GUI which a user employed to issue thecommand received in the act 2210), and the GUI may present the sourceinformation to the user. Presentation need not occur via a GUI and mayoccur in any suitable fashion, as the invention is not limited to anyparticular implementation. Upon the completion of the act 2250, process2200 completes.

It should be appreciated that the retrieval of source information inwhich a data element was originally presented need not entail retrievingthe entire source information in which the data element resides. Thatis, a subset of the source information, such as a particular segment inwhich the data element appears, may be retrieved and/or presented.Retrieval of a subset of the source information may be accomplished inany of numerous ways. For example, source information may be split intosegments before it is stored. In another example, only the portion ofsource information in which the data element resides may be retrieved.Retrieval may be performed in any suitable fashion as embodiments of theinvention are not limited in this respect.

It should be appreciated that the preceding section discloses acapability to analyze one or more underlying documents (e.g., astatutory prospectus) to identify the location(s) within the document(s)at which detailed information corresponding to high-level informationprovided in a summary prospectus is fund Once the location(s) areidentified, references may be created to the detailed information.Portions of the information at the identified location(s) may be used togenerate a summary prospectus, and the references may be inserted intothe appropriate sections of the summary prospectus, to enable investorsto navigate between high-level information in the summary prospectus anddetail contained in the statutory prospectus. Alternatively, if asummary prospectus is made available by a securities issuer with thestatutory prospectus, references to portions of the statutory prospectusmay be inserted into sections of an online version of the summaryprospectus to enable investors to navigate between the high-levelinformation in the summary prospectus and the supporting detail in thestatutory prospectus.

V. Making Summary Prospectus Information Available to Investors

Commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/916,718, filedAug. 12, 2004, entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Managing InformationRelated to Securities,” the entirety of which is incorporated herein byreference and relevant portions of which are reproduced herein,describes system and methods which may be employed to informationavailable to investors in various forms (e.g., online, print, etc.). Forexample, when a securities issuer makes available a new statutory and/orsummary prospectus for a security (e.g., via submission to EDGAR), someembodiments of the invention may enable the automatic acquisition andprocessing of the document(s) Co enable the dissemination, in printand/or online form, of information contained therein to investors.

One embodiment of a computer system for making information available toinvestors is depicted in FIGS. 23A-23D. The system of FIGS. 23A-231) maybe employed to perform numerous information management functions.

At a high level, the system includes various components (e.g., softwaremodules) configured to make information available to investors in any ofnumerous forms. For example, extract module 10 may extract filing datafrom EDGAR database 2305, and mapping module 2330 may identifyindividual compliance documents (e.g., one or more summary prospectusdocuments, statutory prospectus documents, statements of additionalinformation, etc.) within the filing data, and load these documents toelectronic file storage. Production module 2600 and Deployment module2390 may generate versions of one or more compliance documents indifferent formats, to serve the needs of different users, and loaddocument versions to Delivery Servers 2435A and 2435B, which users mayaccess to view one or more compliance documents. Delivery Servers2435A-2435B may afford multiple access methods to compliance documents.For example, Web delivery module 2800, which may comprise one or moreweb servers, may respond to user requests by serving information storedthereon. FTP server 2900 may respond to file transfer protocol (FTP)requests to serve documents. Print On Demand (POD) module 2800 mayproduce information in print form, customized to specific investorneeds. For example, POD module 2800 may be configured to send compliancedocuments relating to individual investor's holdings.

More detailed aspects of the system of FIGS. 23A-23D will now bedescribed with reference to the lifecycle of a securities filingpublished by a securities issuer to the EDGAR database 2305 maintainedby the SEC. In some embodiments, extract module 2310 issues encodedinstructions over a network to perform an extract from EDGAR database2305, although an extract may be performed in any suitable manner, andusing any suitable form of system interface and/or communicationsinfrastructure.

In some embodiments, extract module 2310 identifies and extracts variousfilings submitted to the EDGAR database 2305 by mutual fund companies,corporations, or other issuers of securities. For example, securitiesissuers may submit filings to EDGAR in formats which include AmericanStandard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), hypertext markuplanguage (HTML), portable document format (PDF), or a combinationthereof. Extract module 2310 may, for example, extract filings as theyare submitted to EDGAR, at some predetermined interval (e.g., daily), orat any other suitable time. In the example process shown, extract module2310 transmits ASCII file 2311A, HTML file 2311B, and/or PDF file 2311Cto electronic filing warehouse 2315, which may comprise any suitablecombination of software and/or hardware components.

Filings 2311 stored in electronic filing warehouse 2315 are thenreplicated to deployment server 2380, production server 2320 and PDFproduction server 2485, each of which may comprise any suitablecombination of hardware and/or software components. Each of servers2380, 2320 and 2485 execute modules designed to perforin differentfunctions, as described below.

As described above, EDGAR filings commonly include information relatedto multiple securities, as well as multiple types of information relatedto those securities. For example, a single EDGAR filing may contain aprospectus for Fund A and an annual report for Fund B, and threeprospectus supplements for Fund C. Thus, an investor seeking informationon only Fund A, B, or C may find the filing unwieldy, confusing anddifficult to decipher.

In some embodiments, the techniques described above in Section I may beemployed to separate filings into distinct components. In the exampleprocess shown in FIG. 23, filing data arrives at production server 2320,and the components of module 2330 identifies one or more distinctfilings within the data. In particular, DAX module 2332, charting module2335 and XDP module 2340 process filing data when filing data isreceived from filing warehouse 2320.

DAX module 2332 includes programmed routines designed to interpret dataelements provided in an ASCII- or HTML-based EDGAR filing to identifythe filing's distinct components. For example, DAX module 2332 mayidentify the portions of a filing relating to different securities, theissuer of the filing, its effective date, and any special rules whichmay apply (e.g., a supplement which may only be displayed with anaccompanying document). Thus, DAX module 2332 identifies the individual“documents” that comprise each filing, representing information usefulto an investor. DAX module 2332 may, for example, separate commingledfiling data representing prospectuses and supplements for eightdifferent funds, and “tag” documents so that subsequent processes mayinterpret the identified documents. In the example process shown, datais tagged using extensible markup language (XML) tags.

Charting module 2335 enables, in some embodiments, a semi-automatedprocess whereby data elements provided in ASCII- and HTML-based filingsmay be interpreted to create charts. In this respect, the SEC prescribesthat certain compliance documents must contain graphical representationsof certain types of information (e.g., charts showing historicalperformance of the considered security). As ASCII and HTML data providedin filings submitted to EDGAR are incapable of expressing information ingraphical form, charting module 2335 processes the ASCII and/or HTMLdata to create the prescribed charts. In some embodiments, chartingmodule 2335 may pre-identify data elements in a ASCII or HTML filinglikely to be used for creating a chart, prompt a human user to confirmthat the pre-identified elements are to be used for chart creation, andif so, create XML tags and instructions which may be used by subsequentprocesses to create one or more charts in graphical form for theeventual document.

XDP module 2340 enables the processing described above in Section IIwhereby a set of predefined data elements are located within each filingand tagged (e.g., using XML tags). As described above, any of numerousdata elements may be identified and tagged, such as data elements whichmay be useful to investors in comparing one security to another. In someembodiments, XDP module 2340 employs various keywords and definedbusiness rules to preliminarily identify individual data elements,prompt a human user to confirm whether each data element has beencorrectly identified, and if so, creates a tag for each data element sothat subsequent processes may quickly identify their location within adocument.

In the example shown in FIGS. 23A-23D, DAX module 2332, charting module2335 and XDP module 2340 produce document metadata 2345, chart XML data2350 and data point XML data 2355, respectively, and transmits thisinformation to production data 2360 and PDF production server 2485. Thisoutput may, for example, comprise XML tags, instructions and otherinformation which may be employed by subsequent processes to separate afiling into document components. By passing instructions, tags and otherdata, rather than identified documents themselves, the system mayconserve network bandwidth and decrease the time required to transmitinformation.

In the example depicted, PDF Production Server 2485 also receives filingdata from filing warehouse 2315. In some embodiments, PDF ProductionServer 2485 may enable a process whereby filing data received fromfiling warehouse 2315 is converted to typeset (i.e., non-editable) form,so that the information may be transmitted or otherwise made availableto investors in that form. For example, in one embodiment, filing, datamay be converted to a Portable Document Format (PDF) document, which maybe transmitted or made available to investors via a web site.

In the example shown, the process of converting filing data to typesetform is performed by PDF Production Server 2485. Specifically, in thisexample, PDF Production Server 2485 produces a preliminary, preformattedversion of a data structure representing filing data, which is thentransmitted to a user's workstation (e.g., analyst 2515) for editing.The user may provide various instructions via a GUI executing on theworkstation to invoke functionality provided by PDF Production Server2485, so that a typeset document 2465 may be created. The typesetdocument is then transmitted to production data 2360.

In the example shown, the information stored at production data 2360(i.e., document metadata 2345, chart XML data 2350, data points XML,data 2355, and PostScript file 2565) is sent, with document data 2370,to deployment server 2380. As a result, at this point in the process,deployment server 2380 stores filing data 2311 and the informationrequired to separate the filings into documents. This data isrepresented collectively as data 2385.

Extract module 2420 receives filing data 2311, as well as informationprovided in document metadata 2345, to extract one or more compliancedocuments from filing 2311. For example, extract module 2420 may processinstructions provided by document metadata 2345 to determine the startand end of each document included within filing 2311. In someembodiments, extract module 2420 produces output in the form of an“un-styled” HTML document.

Module 2405 then adds a chart (and/or hyperlink to a chart) toapplicable documents. In some embodiments, module 2405 processesinformation provided by chart XML data 2350 to construct a filecontaining a graphical representation (e.g. chart) of information, andmay insert a hyperlink into the HTML document produced by routine 2420which references the file. The file may be created in any suitablegraphical file format, including .jpg, .gif, or other file formats.

In the example shown, HTML documents are then deployed to deliveryservers 2435A-2435B. In some embodiments, delivery servers 2435A-2435Bare equipped to receive and transmit network-based (e.g., web-based)communication. In the embodiment shown, all of the HTML documentscreated are transferred to delivery servers 2435A-2435B, and deletedfrom deployment server 2390 (of course, they may be recreated from theraw filing data and instructions produced in routine 2330).

It should be appreciated that another drawback with information on theEDGAR database (i.e., in addition to the unwieldy nature of the filingsdiscussed above) is that there is no quick, reliable or easy way todetermine the most current version of filings for a particular security.For example, it is not uncommon for a mutual fund company to file morethan one prospectus for each of its thuds on EDGAR. Each prospectus maybe the subject of a replacement (whereby the issuer files a newerversion of a prospectus to take the place of one already on file, butdoes not remove the older version), a revision (whereby the issuer filesa newer version which modifies a prospectus already on file, but doesnot remove the older version), and/or one or more supplements or“stickers” (whereby the issuer indicates that a portion of the versionon file should be replaced or supplemented with new information, butdoes not remove the older version). As a result, it can be extremelydifficult for an investor to determine which version of an EDGAR filingfor a security is the most current.

The system of FIGS. 23A-23D provides a capability to identify, anddirect an investor to, the most current versions of compliance documentsfor a security, accounting for such filings as revisions, replacementsand supplements. In the example shown, deployment module 2390, usingupdate index module 2415, creates and maintains a “compliance envelope”in which is stored the location of the most current compliancedocument(s) for each security on file. For example, a complianceenvelope for a given security may include the location of a most currentprospectus, annual report, semiannual report, statement of additionalinformation, and/or all supplements for the security that satisfycertain requirements.

To create the compliance envelope, update index module 2415 determineswhether a document contained within a given filing represents the mostcurrent information for the security, and thus warrants an update to thecompliance folder. For example, update index 2415 may process data inthe filing to determine whether a document should be designated as mostcurrent. In this respect, a document may contain information, such as aneffective date, which defines when it should be made available toinvestors (documents are often filed in advance of their effective date,so may have to suspend their delivery for a time, then indicate when theeffective date arrives that the document is most current). The effectivedate may also be used to determine when the document should bedesignated as the most current document, as well as how long it willremain effective. Thus, in some embodiments, although every document isdeployed to delivery servers 2435A-2435B, the update index module 2415uses the effective date to determine whether a particular document ismost current, and if so updates the location for the considered type ofdocument within the compliance envelope to reflect this. For example,update index module 2415 may process a number of rules to determinewhether a particular document is the most current of certain types(e.g., prospectus, annual report, and semiannual report documents). Inaddition, rules may be processed to determine whether to make availablea compliance envelope entry for a security. Example rules fordetermining whether a document is the most current of its type and/orwhether an entry for a compliance envelope should be made available toinvestors are provided in above referenced co-pending U.S. applicationbearing Ser. No. 10/916,781.

If update index module 2415 determines that a particular document is themost current of its type, it modifies the compliance folder to includethe location of that document on servers 2435A-2435B, so that the mostcurrent of each type of compliance document may be easily accessed byinvestors. Thus, for example, when an investor issues a web-basedrequest for a prospectus for Fund X, one of servers 2435A-2435B mayaccess the compliance envelope to determine the location of the mostcurrent prospectus (as well as any additional information germane to therequest and/or document, such as applicable supplements), and serve thatdata to the investor. In the embodiment shown, the compliance envelopeis implemented using a table which reflects the location (i.e., withinone or more file systems stored on delivery servers 2435A-2435B) of themost current document of each type for a particular security. However, acompliance envelope need not be implemented using a table, and may beimplemented in any of numerous ways, such as with any form of datastructure. The system is not limited to any particular implementation.

In some embodiments, using a compliance envelope to process investorrequests for documents relating to a security may minimize theprocessing which a delivery server performs. For example, having anidentified location of the most current compliance document of each typemay mean that a delivery server need not perform logical processing(e.g., to compare characteristics of various compliance documents storedthereon) to determine the most current, but rather can simply retrievethe document from the identified location. In this manner, the responsetime of delivery servers 2535 may be minimized.

As described above, delivery servers 2435A-2435B may provide severalvehicles through which an investor may access information storedthereon. Three of these vehicles (i.e., web delivery, FTP, and POD) aredepicted in FIG. 23, although an suitable vehicle(s) may be employed.

In some embodiments, a web delivery vehicle may allow an investor 2447to access information stored on delivery servers 2435A-2435B via theworldwide web. For example, investor 2447 may use a web browser toaccess a web site hosted by or for investment institution 2450 or onlinebroker 2420 (i.e., exemplary entities that an investor uses to accessinformation related to securities) on one of delivery servers2435A-2435B. When an investor issues a request 2525 for information tothe web site validation module 2530 may authenticate the investor anddetermine the security for which the investor seeks information (e.g.,based on a provided CUSIP).

In some embodiments, the format in which the information should beprovided as HTML, XML, PDF, etc.) is also determined. In the exampleshown, an indication of the format is provided within the URL used toissue the request, although this indication may be provided using anysuitable mechanism(s). Validation module 2530 may process the request todetermine whether the entity for which the site is hosted is approved toprovide information for the considered security in the format requested.

In the example shown, if the request is validated, then module 2535retrieves the requested information for the considered security andprovides it to investor 2447 (e.g., as either HTML/XML document 2540 for“Level I/II” or PDF document 2545 for “Level III”). The retrievalprocess may include using the compliance envelope to determine thelocation of the document requested in the specified format.

In some embodiments, information may nor be sent to an investor 2447 inresponse to the investor's request, but rather in response to a documenthaving been published to EDGAR. For example, an investor may have givenprior consent to electronic delivery of updates to certain types ofdocuments for a particular security. Thus, when an updated document isidentified, the system may cause the document (e.g., in PDF form) or amessage indicating that a document and the location at which it isavailable, to be sent to the investor. Commonly assigned U.S. patentapplications bearing Ser. No. 09/023,039 (entitled “Obtaining Consentfor Electronic Delivery of Compliance Information”) and Ser. No.09/785,630 (entitled “Method and Apparatus for Providing FinancialTransaction Data Via The Internet”) disclose example techniques forobtaining investor consent to electronic delivery of information and forproviding data related to securities transactions, respectively, whichmay also be employed to deliver compliance documents, such as a summaryprospectus, to art investor.

Of course, compliance documents such as a statutory and/or summaryprospectus need not be sent to investors electronically, as they mayalso, or alternatively, be provided in hard copy form. The embodimentsof the invention which provide a capability for a statutory and/orsummary prospectus to be sent to an investor in hard copy form may alsoprovide functionality for suppressing delivery to certain investors. Inthis respect, it should be appreciated that although the SEC generallyrequires that a prospectus for a security be delivered to an investorwithin a specified timeframe after certain events occur (e.g., after theinvestor purchases the security), there are exceptions to this generalrule. For example, a prospectus need not be sent to an investor whopreviously received that prospectus, or who is purchasing additionalshares of the security (i.e., rather than making an initial purchase).As such, embodiments of the present invention provide a capability fordetermining, using data on investor holdings, previous investormailings, and filings acquired from EDGAR to determine the investors towhom a newly published statutory and/or summary prospectus should besent. In particular, some embodiments provide a capability for producinga “print recipe” identifying investors to whom a summary prospectusshould be sent.

FIG. 24 depicts an example process 2700 for identifying investors towhich one or more documents (e.g., published statutory and/or summaryprospectuses) should be sent. At the start of process 2700, a datastructure containing information relating to previous activity for anentity's (e.g., an issuer's, intermediary's, etc) clients (e.g.,investors) is retrieved in act 2710. This information may, for example,data on each investor's investment positions, and mailings previouslysent to each client. This file may be retrieved from electronic filestorage (e.g., a database maintained for the customer) which storesinformation related to the entity and its clients.

Upon the completion of the act 2710, the process proceeds to at 2720,wherein the holdings for each investor account which qualify for themailing are determined. One embodiment of a method for determiningclient account holdings which qualify is depicted in FIG. 25, whichutilizes the data structure retrieved in act 2710. The method describedwith reference to FIG. 25 may also be embodied in one or more softwareroutines programmed in any suitable programming language, and may beexecuted on any suitably configured computer system. FIG. 25 depicts asimplified version of this process; possible variations are describedbelow.

In FIG. 25, historical holdings data 2810 and new holdings data 2820 arecompared in act 2830 to determine client holdings changes 2840. Then,client holdings changes 2840 and EDGAR filings data 2850 are compared inact 2860 to determine holdings which have currently effective filings2870. Then, the holdings with currently effective filings 2870 andhistorical mailing data 2880 are compared in act 2890 to determine theclient account holdings to be included in the mailing 2895.

There are numerous variations to the process of FIG. 25 which may beachieved by applying various business rules to the process. Businessrules may be provided in the form of a data structure that is accessedduring the execution of the process shown, may be “hard coded” into oneor more programmed routines which comprise, either completely or inpart, the process of FIG. 25, or provided in any other suitable manner.Business rules may be provided which dictate that:

-   -   If a client does not own a certain security, documents related        to that security should not be mailed to the client.    -   If a client has previously received a document, the document        should not be mailed to the client.    -   If a client purchases a security in the current period and has        not previously received a document with a current effective date        for that security, the document should be mailed to the client.    -   If a client has previously received a document with a current        effective date for a security, but has not received a supplement        which has a current effective date, the supplement should be        mailed to the client.    -   If a client has previously received a document which contains        information related to a security that the client purchased in        the current period (e.g., if the document previously received        also contained information for another security purchased by the        client), the document should not be mailed to the client.    -   If a client previously received a document for a security, then        sold the security, then re-purchased the security before the        document's effective date had lapsed, the document should not be        mailed to the client.    -   If a client account was previously inactive because the client        had stopped making contributions, and the account became active        in the current period, a prospectus should only be sent for the        securities in the account if the effective date of the        previously received prospectuses are past.    -   If a client is a new participant in a plan but has not yet        purchased a security under that plan, a prospectus for all        securities offered under the plan should be mailed to the        client.    -   If a customer offers a new security under an existing product        (e.g., a variable annuity), send a prospectus to each client who        owns that product for that security.

Alternatively, client accounts may be selected for inclusion in amailing according to criteria which are unrelated to their holdings ormailing history. For example, clients may be selected that participatein a certain type of plan (e.g., a 401(k) plan), own a certain type ofproduct (e.g., a variable annuity), or own a certain security (e.g., IBMstock) may be selected for a mailing. In this manner, a customer mayexecute promotions related to certain products, plans, or securities.The selection of client accounts for a mailing may be performed in anysuitable manner.

Referring again to FIG. 24, upon the completion of act 2720, the processproceeds to act 2730, wherein unique accounts and documents to beincluded in the mailing are determined. One method for determiningunique accounts is to consolidate multiple records which share a commonidentifier (e.g., account number). However, any suitable technique foridentifying unique accounts may be employed.

The determination of the documents to be included in a mailing mayinclude multiple steps. First, business rules may guide whether documentsupplements are to be mailed. For example, the rules may dictate that ifa client mailing includes only a supplement, the supplement should notbe mailed, because the expense is unjustified. On the other hand, rulesmay dictate that a supplement is sent regardless of whether itconstitutes the sole mailing for that client. Second, the process mayidentify whether a client holds multiple securities described in acombined document (i.e. documents containing information related to morethan one security) and include that document in the mailing only once.There are numerous ways to identify the documents to be included in amailing, and the process is not limited to a particular implementation.

Upon the completion of act 2730, the process proceeds to act 2740,wherein a determination is made as to whether any clients have consentedto electronic delivery. This determination may be made by comparing theclient accounts to a data structure containing client accounts whichhave consented to electronic delivery. The records for clients who havenot consented are passed to the act 2770, while the records for clientswho have consented are passed to the act 2750. In the embodiment shown,act 2770 is not performed until the completion of acts 7750 and 2760.

In act 2750, electronic delivery is attempted for those clients whichhave consented. As described above, electronic delivery may include amessage sent to a client's e-mail address or a text message sent to theclient's wireless device (e.g., cell phone or PDA) indicating that thedocument is available for retrieval from a web site identified (e.g.,with a URL) in the message, or other form of notification.

Upon the completion of the act 2750, the process proceeds to act 2760,wherein it is determined whether each attempt at electronic delivery wassuccessful. This may be performed by determining whether a message wasreturned. If it is determined in act 2760 that electronic delivery wassuccessful for a particular client record, the process ends for thatclient record. If it is determined in act 2760 that electronic deliverywas unsuccessful for a client record, the record is passed to the act2770, to be processed with those client records that did not consent toelectronic delivery. In addition, the record may have an indicator setwhich triggers the creation of a message (e.g., a mail-gram or othernotice) which notifies the client that electronic delivery failed.

In act 2770, the unique recipients and print package for each clientmailing are determined. In one embodiment, the unique recipients for amailing are determined by executing a house holding process. In someimplementations, a householding process seeks to identify multipleclient records which belong to a single household, so that only a singlemailing may be sent to that household. The process may be configured toidentify records with a common household in any of numerous ways, suchas according to regulations issued by the SEC, or according to businessrules supplied by a customer. For example, the process may be configuredto determine that client records having equivalent last name and addressfields should be assigned to the same household. In addition, theprocess may also determine the unique funds held by household members.For example, if two members of the same household own the same securityand were to receive the same document for that security, the process mayeliminate one of the duplicate documents from the mailing.

The print package to be delivered to each recipient may be configured inany of numerous ways, such as with business rules provided by thecustomer. For example, the customer may specify that documents sent toparticipants in particular plans, clients who own specific products orsecurities, or clients in specific geographic regions should be givencustomized covers, such as covers which specify a product name, logo,return address, or other information. The customer may also specify thatdocuments sent to particular clients should be given customized coverletters, such as letters which specify a plan name, fund name, or cliente-mail address.

Upon the completion of act 2770, the process proceeds to act 2780,wherein the print recipe is created and the documents which are includein the print recipe are retrieved. According to one embodiment, therecipe includes a collection of records, each of which includesinformation describing a unique client, indications of the documentsthat are to be sent to the client, and other indicators for how themailing is to be customized.

An exemplary print recipe record is depicted in FIG. 26. Record 2601includes portion 2610, in which name and address information for aclient is stored. This information may be the result of the householding process described above. Portion 2620 stores indicators whichare interpreted by a print vendor to customize the mailing to theclient. For example, portion 2620 may contain an indicator for the nameof the plan in which the client is a participant, so that the plan namemay be printed on the cover of the mailing sent to the client. Portions2630, 2640, 2650 and 2660 store indications of the documents to beincluded in the mailing to the client.

Referring again to FIG. 24, in act 2770, the process retrieves thedocuments which are specified by the print recipe. This may beaccomplished in any of numerous ways, such as by retrieving PDFdocuments from delivery servers 2435A-2435B (FIG. 23), or by requestingPDF documents from the customer.

The act 2780 may include splitting the print recipe file into multiplefiles. This may be done for any of numerous reasons. For example, acustomer may have requested that its own PDF files be used instead ofthose created in the PDF production process shown in FIG. 23 (e.g.,because the customer PDF files are smaller and more decoratively styledthan those created by the process of FIG. 23), but may have sent only aportion of the PDF files which are specified in the print recipe. Inthis case, act 2780 may include splitting the print recipe file into afirst portion containing only the PDF documents received, and a secondportion which contains PDF documents not yet received. In anotherexample, the print recipe may be split into multiple files toaccommodate economic considerations. For instance, the print recipe maybe split into a first portion which will be offset printed, and a secondportion which will be digitally printed. In yet another example, thedocuments for a particular security, plan or product may need to beprinted before others for various reasons, such as to meet compliancerequirements set by the SEC.

Upon the completion of act 2780, the process proceeds to act 2790,wherein the print recipe and the specified documents are used to preparea set of documents for delivery to investors. Upon the completion of act2790, the process 2700 ends.

The techniques for processing securities-related information describedabove may be performed at a configurable periodicity. For example, insome embodiments, information contained in a summary prospectus and/orcorresponding detailed documents may be processed throughout the year(e.g., the calendar year and/or a securities issuer's or intermediary'sfiscal year) so that as new detailed documents are made available, anonline version summary prospectus may provide access to this updatedinformation, either in addition to or instead of information previouslymade available by a securities issuer or intermediary. For example, anexhaustive repository of information relating to a security (e.g.,multiple online version summary prospectuses, which may have issuedperiodically and include information that has changed over time, withthe detailed documents corresponding to each online version) may beprovided, or only the most current version of information relating to asecurity (e.g., a single, most current online version summary prospectusand the current documents it references) may be made available, or somecombination of these approaches may be employed (e.g., by providingaccess to a single, most current online version summary prospectus, anda repository of detailed documents that include information that haschanged over time, vice versa, etc.). The invention is not limited toany particular implementation.

Some embodiments may make provisions for compliance with periodic updaterequirements set forth by the SEC and/or other regulatory agencies. Forexample, if the SEC issued a new requirement that securities issuersand/or intermediaries must make available updates to a security'sstatutory and/or summary prospectus, or portions thereof, morefrequently than annually (e.g., quarterly), then embodiments of theinvention may be configured to enable creation of a new online versionsummary prospectus and/or updates to an existing online version summaryprospectus with updated information (e.g., updates to a mutual fund'stop holdings) at the required frequency. If an existing online versionsummary prospectus is updated to include new or revised information,this information may be acquired from any of numerous sources. Forexample, information may be acquired (e.g., using the techniquesdescribed above in Sections I-III) from a new statutory prospectus orother document published by the securities issuer and/or intermediary(e.g., a new summary prospectus, supplement, SAI and/or otherdocument(s)) and/or other information. Embodiments of the invention arenot limited to any particular implementation.

If updates to information on a security occur more frequently thanannually, and a new online version summary prospectus is created, thenembodiments of the invention may provide a set of investor informationresources which includes one or more previous online version summaryprospectuses, each including links to corresponding detailed documents.For example, a reference between each online version summary prospectusand the detailed documents it references may be kept static over time,even as new summary prospectus and/or detailed documents are publishedby a securities issuer and/or intermediary. As such, embodiments of theinvention may enable an investor to review previous online versionsummary prospectuses and the detailed documents referenced thereby todetermine how certain key information relating to a security has changedover time, or to review information on a security as of a certain date,enabling a more thorough analysis of a security's history alongdimensions which are important to the investor. For example, theinvestor might gain insight into how a mutual fund's top holdingschanged over time (perhaps giving some indication of how volatile arethe fund's holdings), whether there have been any increases in certainfees over time (perhaps giving some indication of whether and whenfurther fee increases might be expected), etc.

Of course, the invention is not limited to being implemented with staticlinks from a given online version summary prospectus to underlyingdetailed documents, as relationships between online version summaryprospectuses and underlying documents need not be one-to-one, and maychange over time. For example, when a new online version summaryprospectus with links to updated detailed documents is created, previousonline versions may be retained, but the links to detailed documents inthose previous online versions may be updated to reference the mostrecent versions of those detailed documents, may be supplemented withlinks to the most recent versions of those detailed documents, or may beotherwise modified. In this manner, an investor who accesses an onlineversion summary prospectus which is not the most up-to-date (e.g., aninvestor who enters an outdated URL, provided on a previous hard copysummary prospectus mailed to the investor some time ago) may be alertedthat more current information is available, while still enabling theinvestor to see how information on the security has changed over time.

Some embodiments of the invention may enable making multiple versions ofa particular summary prospectus available to investors in hard copyand/or online form. This may be desirable, for example, because someinvestors in a given security may have who purchased it directly fromthe issuer, while others may have purchased the security through anintermediary (e.g., a broker-dealer), and each entity which sells thesecurity′ to investors may wish to have the summary prospectus branded aparticular way to engender investor loyalty and brand awareness. Forexample, each entity that sells the security to investors may employdifferent branding elements (e.g., logos, text fonts, formatting styles,etc.) in generating a hard copy summary prospectus for delivery toinvestors. These branding elements may, for example, be overlaid orotherwise added to preliminary version of the summary prospectus madeavailable by the security issuer (e.g., via the EDGAR database). As aresult, a first group of investors who purchase the security directlyfrom the issuer may receive one version of a hard copy and/or onlineversion summary prospectus which contains branding elements specific tothe issuer, while a second group of investors who purchased the securitythrough an intermediary (e.g., a broker/dealer) may receive a version ofthe hard copy and/or online version summary prospectus which is specificto the intermediary from which the security was purchased and whichcontains branding elements specific to the considered intermediary. As aresult, each entity may market its services to the investors to whom itdelivers the hard copy and/or online version summary prospectus.

Some embodiments may provide for creating different versions of a hardcopy summary prospectus, each including a different URL for a differentonline version summary prospectus, to accomplish a similar objective.For example, one version of a hard copy summary prospectus may becreated for investors that purchased the security through the issuer,with that version including a URL for an online version summaryprospectus hosted on the issuer's web site, and one or more otherversions may be created for investors that purchased the securitythrough an intermediary, with each version including a URL for an onlineversion summary prospectus hosted on a respective intermediary'swebsite. As such, each intermediary may have an opportunity to marketsits services to investors via its online version summary prospectusversion.

Versions of a hard copy and/or online version summary prospectus may becreated in any of numerous ways, as embodiments of the invention are notlimited to any particular technique. For example, the processesdescribed above in Section I may be employed by an intermediary and/orservice provider engaged thereby to identify when a summary prospectusis published for a security held by a customer of the intermediary(i.e., an investor). When a summary prospectus is published, thetechniques described in Section II-III may be employed to create a hardcopy summary prospectus for delivery to the investor which includesbranding elements specific to the intermediary, and a URL for an onlineversion summary prospectus which is hosted on the intermediary's website(or a website created by the service provider for the intermediary).Similarly, a securities issuer and/or service provider engaged therebymay employ the techniques described above when publishing a summaryprospectus for a security held by customers to create a hard copysummary prospectus for delivery to each customer which includes brandingelements specific to the issuer and a URL for an online version summaryprospectus which is hosted on the issuer's website (or a website createdby the service provider for the issuer). Embodiments of the inventionmay be employed to create different versions of a hard copy and/oronline version summary prospectus to accomplish various businessobjectives in any of numerous ways, as the invention is not limited toany particular implementation.

Various aspects of the systems and methods for practicing features ofthe invention may be implemented on one or more computer systems, suchas the exemplary computer system 2800 shown in FIG. 27. Computer system2800 includes input device(s) 2802, output device(s) 2801, processor2803, memory system 2804 and storage 2806, all of which are coupled,directly or indirectly, via interconnection mechanism 2805, which maycomprise one or more buses, switches, networks and/or any other suitableinterconnection. The input device(s) 2802 receive(s) input from a useror machine (e.g., a human operator), and the output device(s) 2801display(s) or transmit(s) information to a user or machine (e.g., aliquid crystal display). The processor 2803 typically executes acomputer program called an operating system (e.g., a MicrosoftWindows-family operating system, or any other suitable operating system)which controls the execution of other computer programs, and providesscheduling, input/output and other device control, accounting,compilation, storage assignment, data management, memory management,communication and dataflow control. Collectively, the processor andoperating system define the computer platform for which applicationprograms and other computer program languages are written.

The processor 2803 may also execute one or more computer programs toimplement various functions. These computer programs may be written inany type of computer program language, including a proceduralprogramming language, object-oriented programming language, macrolanguage, or combination thereof. These computer programs may be storedin storage system 2806. Storage system 2806 may hold information on avolatile or non-volatile medium, and may be fixed or removable. Storagesystem 2806 is shown in greater detail in FIG. 28.

Storage system 2806 typically includes a computer-readable and writablenonvolatile recording medium 2901, on which signals are stored thatdefine a computer program or information to be used by the program. Amedium may, for example, be a disk or flash memory. Typically, anoperation, the processor 2803 causes data to be read from thenonvolatile recording medium 2901 into a volatile memory 2902 (e.g., arandom access memory, or RAM) that allows for faster access to theinformation by the processor 2803 than does the medium 2901. The memory2902 may be located in the storage system 2806, as shown in FIG. 29, orin memory system 2804, as shown in FIG. 28. The processor 2803 generallymanipulates the data within the integrated circuit memory 2804, 2902 andthen copies the data to the medium 2901 after processing is completed. Avariety of mechanisms are known for managing data movement between themedium 2901 and the integrated circuit memory element 2804, 2902, andthe invention is not limited thereto. The invention is also not limitedto a particular memory system 2804 or storage system 2806.

The above-described embodiments of the present invention can beimplemented in any of numerous ways. For example, the above-discussedfunctionality can be implemented using hardware, software or acombination thereof. When implemented in software, the software code canbe executed on any suitable processor or collection of processors,whether provided in a single computer or distributed among multiplecomputers. In this respect, it should be appreciated that any componentor collection of components that perform the functions described hereincan be generically considered as one or more controllers that controlthe above-discussed functions. The one or more controllers can beimplemented in numerous ways, such as with dedicated hardware, or byemploying one or more processors that are programmed using microcode orsoftware to perform the functions recited above. Where a controllerstores or provides data for system operation, such data may be stored ina central repository, in a plurality of repositories, or a combinationthereof.

Further, it should be appreciated that a (client or server) computer maybe embodied in any of a number of forms, such as a rack-mountedcomputer, desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet computer, or othertype of computer. Additionally, a (client or server) computer may beembedded in a device not generally regarded as a computer but withsuitable processing capabilities, including a Personal Digital Assistant(PDA), a smart phone or any other suitable portable or fixed electronicdevice.

Also, a (client or server) computer may have one or more input andoutput devices. These devices can be used, among other things, topresent a user interface. Examples of output devices that can be used toprovide a user interface include printers or display screens for visualpresentation of output and speakers or other sound generating devicesfor audible presentation of output. Examples of input devices that canbe used for a user interface including keyboards, and pointing devices,such as mice, touch pads, and digitizing tables. As another example, acomputer may receive input information through speech recognition or inother audible format.

Such computers may be interconnected by one or more networks in anysuitable form, including as a local area network or a wide area network,such as an enterprise network or the Internet. Such networks may bebased on any suitable technology and may operate according to anysuitable protocol and may include wireless networks, wired networks orfiber optic networks. Also, the various methods or processes outlinedherein may be coded as software that is executable on one or moreprocessors that employ any one of a variety of operating systems orplatforms.

Additionally, software may be written using any of a number of suitableprogramming languages and/or conventional programming or scriptingtools, and also may be compiled as executable machine language code orintermediate code that is executed on a framework or virtual machine.

In this respect, the invention may be embodied as a storage medium (ormultiple storage media) (e.g., a computer memory, one or more floppydisks, compact disks, optical disks, magnetic tapes, flash memories,circuit configurations in Field Programmable (late Arrays or othersemiconductor devices, or other computer storage media) encoded with oneor more programs that, when executed on one or more computers or otherprocessors, perform methods that implement the various embodiments ofthe invention discussed above. The storage medium or media can betransportable, such that the program or programs stored thereon can beloaded onto one or more different computers or other processors toimplement various aspects of the present invention as discussed above.

The terms “program” or “software” are used herein in a generic sense torefer to any type of computer code or set of computer-executableinstructions that can be employed to program a computer or otherprocessor to implement various aspects of the present invention asdiscussed above. Additionally, it should be appreciated that accordingto one aspect of this embodiment, one or more computer programs thatwhen executed perform methods of the present invention need not resideon a single computer or processor, but may be distributed in a modularfashion amongst a number of different computers or processors toimplement various aspects of the present invention.

Computer-executable instructions may be provided in many forms, such asprogram modules, executed by one or more computers or other devices.Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks orimplement particular abstract data types. Typically the functionality ofthe program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in variousembodiments.

Various aspects of the present invention may be used alone, incombination, or in a variety of arrangements not specifically discussedin the embodiments described in the foregoing and is therefore notlimited in its application to the details and arrangement of componentsset forth in the foregoing description or illustrated in the drawings.For example, aspects described in one embodiment may be combined in anymanner with aspects described in other embodiments.

Use of ordinal terms such as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., in theclaims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote anypriority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or thetemporal order in which acts of a method are performed, but are usedmerely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain namefrom another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinalterm) to distinguish the claim elements.

Also, the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose ofdescription and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of“including,” “comprising,” or “having,” “containing,” “involving,” andvariations thereof herein, is meant to encompass the items listedthereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items.

Having thus described several aspects of at least one embodiment of thisinvention, it is to be appreciated various alterations, modifications,and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Suchalterations, modifications, and improvements are intended to be part ofthis disclosure, and are intended to be within the spirit and scope ofthe invention. Accordingly, the foregoing description and drawings areby way of example only.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method of processing abody of data representing a prospectus issued for at least one mutualfund, the method comprising: (A) locating, within the body of data, oneor more data elements each having at least one attribute within apredefined set of attributes; (B) inserting one or more markers into thebody of data to indicate the presence of the data element(s) located in(A); (C) using the marker(s) inserted in (B), generating arepresentation of the prospectus; and (D) making the representation ofthe prospectus available for a recipient to access.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the representation of the prospectus is a summaryprospectus.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the act (D) comprisesmaking the summary prospectus available in hard copy and/or online form.4. The method of claim 3, wherein the act (D) comprises making thesummary prospectus available in hard copy and online form, with the hardcopy summary prospectus including a uniform resource locator (URL) atwhich the online summary prospectus may be accessed.
 5. The method ofclaim 3, wherein the act (D) comprises making the summary prospectusavailable in online form, the online summary prospectus comprising aplurality of sections each including at least one data element locatedin (A) and a link to detailed information regarding the at least onedata element.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the link is to alocation within the body of data representing the prospectus.
 7. Themethod of claim 6, wherein the body of data representing the prospectuscomprises a table of contents, and wherein the location is proximate tothe table of contents.
 8. The method of claim 6, wherein the body ofdata representing the prospectus comprises a portion which providesinformation regarding the at least one data element, and wherein thelocation is proximate to the portion.
 9. The method of claim 5, wherein,subsequent to issuance of the prospectus for the at least one mutualfund, a more recent prospectus was issued for the at least one mutualfund, and wherein the link is to a location within a body of datarepresenting the more recent prospectus.
 10. The method of claim 5,wherein, subsequent to issuance of the prospectus for the at least onemutual fund, a more recent prospectus was issued for the at least onemutual fund, wherein the body of data representing the more recentprospectus comprises a table of contents, and wherein the link is to alocation proximate to the table of contents.
 11. The method of claim 1,wherein each of the one or more data elements is selected from a groupof data elements for the at least one mutual fund consisting of aninvestment objective, a fee or expense, a principal investment strategy,a principal risk, an annual total return, an investment advisor, aportfolio manager, a rule relating to a purchase or sale, andinformation on payments to an intermediary.
 12. The method of claim 1,wherein the act (C) comprises generating the representation of theprospectus to include the one or more data elements arranged in apredefined sequence.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the predefinedsequence is established by the United States Securities and ExchangeCommission (SEC).
 14. The method or claim 1, wherein the acts (A)-(D)are performed automatically upon the body of data representing theprospectus being filed with the SEC's Electronic Data Gathering,Analysis and Retrieval (EDGAR) database by the issuer of the at leastone mutual fund.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein the act (C)comprises generating a representation of the prospectus which includesone or more branding elements associated with an entity.
 16. The methodof claim 15, wherein the entity is an issuer of the at least one mutualfund.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein the entity is a broker-dealer.18. The method of claim 1, further comprising: (E) storing therepresentation of the prospectus in a repository.
 19. The method ofclaim 18, wherein the prospectus for the at least one mutual fund is oneof a plurality of prospectuses issued for the at least one mutual fundover a period of time, and wherein the repository further stores arepresentation of each of the plurality of prospectuses.
 20. The methodof claim 19, further comprising: (F) making the representation of eachof the plurality of prospectuses electronically accessible to a user.